UC Davis lands $7M stem cell research grant

Sacramento Business Journal - April 30, 2009


UC Davis lands $7M stem cell research grant
Sacramento Business Journal - by Celia Lamb Staff writer

The University of California Davis has been awarded $7 million from the state stem cell agency to study the potential use of stem cells to treat babies with blood disorders and develop a treatment for Huntington’s disease.

The grants is one of 15, totaling $67.7 million, awarded by The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine on April 29 to universities, research institutes and private companies. The grants are intended to aid the creation of new drugs and address bottlenecks in the development of new therapies.

“These grants are an important part of CIRM’s strategy to fund the best basic research and then bring the results of that work to patients,” said CIRM president Alan Trounson. The stem cell agency has received $275 million from a recent bond sale to fund stem cell research.

UC Davis researcher Alice Tarantal has been granted $4.2 million for preclinical research with embryonic and umbilical cord blood stem cells that have potential for treating sickle cell anemia, thalassemia and bleeding disorders.

Jan Nolta, director of the UC Davis Stem Cell Research program, is the principal investigator of the Huntington’s disease research project, which received $2.8 million. Nolta hopes to develop a treatment using stem cells to prevent the production of mutant proteins that damage neurons. Huntington’s disease is a fatal genetic condition that has no cure.